Focus

After a solid decade of dreck, the seductive con man rom-com Focus allows star Will Smith to slip into a little suave adult sophistication, while rehabbing his image by playing the familiar part of the brash, smooth-talking charmer. The con game genre also offers him an opportunity to investigate and penetrate his celebrity facade, but writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa are all about facades, and Focus is a film that exists entirely on its enticing surfaces. In the moment, it’s an entertaining enough hustle, but scratch the paint and a lot of formulaic chintz starts to show. All of the cinematic “glamour” on display—the lounge-pop soundtrack, the subdued sky bar lighting, the Out of Sight jump cuts—is part of Ficarra and Requa's con, just osmosis of style from dozens of better movies. The whole film unravels the second you step away. D.B.